Constitutional Law

The Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark stray dog verdict in May 2026, ordering the immediate rounding up, sterilisation, and permanent relocation of stray dogs from key public areas such as hospitals, schools, bus stands, and railway stations. The ruling, delivered by a bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta, and Justice NV Anjaria, fundamentally changes how India manages its stray dog population by prioritising human safety under Article 21 of t

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has announced her intention to challenge the West Bengal 2026 Assembly election results in the Supreme Court of India. The challenge is expected to focus on the deletion of approximately 9 million voter entries from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise conducted before the elections. The two-phase elections held on 23 and 29 April 2026 resulted in the BJP winning the state for the first time, and the

President Draupadi Murmu has promulgated the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026, increasing the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court of India from 34 to 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India. The Ordinance was notified in the Gazette of India on 16 May 2026 after the Union Cabinet approved the proposal on 5 May 2026. This is the most significant expansion of the Supreme Court's bench strength in recent years, aimed at addressing a backlog

The Calcutta High Court on 21 May 2026 granted interim protection to Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, restraining the West Bengal Police from taking any coercive action against him until 31 July 2026 in connection with an FIR registered over his alleged remarks against Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election campaign. The Court, however, also pulled up Banerjee for making what it described as irresponsible and inflammatory speeches,

The Madras High Court on 21 May 2026 dismissed a plea seeking to ban the Tamil movie Karuppu, starring Suriya and Trisha and directed by RJ Balaji. The petitioner, advocate RS Tamilvendan of Kodambakkam, alleged that the film damaged the image of the judicial system by portraying corruption among judges and lawyers. The Bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan held that the portrayal of corruption in the legal system is a matter for introspection, not censorshi

The Madras High Court has granted an interim stay of a notice issued by the Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Wing directing X (formerly Twitter) to remove and block multiple URLs containing posts by Vishwa Hindu Parishad members and supporters. The Court observed that political criticism, satire, and dissent are constitutionally protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and cannot be suppressed through executive orders that lack individualised reasoning. The order is a signi

The Supreme Court of India on 20 May 2026 acquitted a Sri Lankan refugee convicted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, after finding that his entire prosecution rested on a case of mistaken identity. The judgment in Sri v. State (2026 INSC 516) is a sharp reminder that wrongful convictions under stringent anti-terror legislation can occur when basic procedural safeguards, such as test identification parades, are bypassed. The ruling also carries significance

The Supreme Court of India has sought fresh affidavits from the Union Government and the Reserve Bank of India in a public interest litigation seeking the creation of a centralized, searchable database of over Rs 1.08 lakh crore in unclaimed financial assets lying across banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, and depositories. The Court questioned why a promised central database remains unbuilt more than two and a half years after the government's own deadline for creating

The Karnataka High Court on May 19, 2026, restrained the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of various road transport trade unions from proceeding with an indefinite strike that was scheduled to begin on May 20. The division bench of Justices Suraj Govindaraj and K. Manmadha Rao issued the order covering employees of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC

The Supreme Court of India on May 20, 2026, dismissed a Public Interest Litigation challenging the Union Government's decision to conduct caste enumeration as part of the upcoming 2027 Census. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi, held that the collection of caste data is a policy decision falling squarely within the government's domain and that courts cannot intervene in such matters. The Court observed t

With less than a month before the FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off on June 11, India's broadcast rights for the tournament remain entirely unsold. No television network or streaming platform has secured the rights to show the matches in India, leaving over 1.4 billion people without a confirmed way to watch the world's most popular sporting event. The Delhi High Court recently heard a public interest petition seeking to compel Prasar Bharati, India's public service broadcaster,

The Bombay High Court has delivered a significant ruling on the nature of marriage and domestic responsibilities, holding that wives are not "deemed maids" and that a wife's refusal to perform household chores such as cooking and cleaning does not amount to cruelty under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The division bench of Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande quashed a Family Court order from July 2010 that had granted divorce to a Mumbai-based C

The Supreme Court of India has ordered the clubbing of a Haryana FIR with an earlier Delhi Economic Offences Wing case in the Brahma City/Krrish World real estate fraud matter, reiterating the settled legal principle that there cannot be multiple FIRs in respect of the same transaction or occurrence giving rise to cognizable offences. The order addresses a recurring problem in real estate fraud cases where multiple investors file separate complaints in different jurisdictions

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant announced on May 19, 2026, that the Supreme Court will soon constitute 7-judge benches to hear constitutional references that have been pending for years. The announcement came during the hearing of a matter when the CJI indicated that he would be occupied with 7-judge bench hearings in the near future. According to the National Judicial Data Grid, there are currently 5 matters covering 34 appeals pending before 7-judge benches of the Supreme

The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant on May 18, 2026, approved the recommendation of 19 persons for appointment as judges of the Madras High Court. The recommendations include 9 judicial officers being elevated from the district judiciary and 10 advocates being appointed directly from the Bar. The Madras High Court currently has a working strength of 52 judges against a sanctioned strength of 75, leaving 23 vacancies. These appointments, once process